Facebook users who check in to a store or "like" a brand may soon find those actions re-transmitted on their friends' pages as a "Sponsored Story" paid for by advertisers.
Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.
Facebook says this lets advertisers promote word-of-mouth recommendations that people already made on the site. The new, promoted posts would keep the same privacy setting that the original posting had.
But involving users in advertisements without their consent has been a thorny issue for Facebook. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, says in this case Facebook is making money off a person's name or likeness without their consent. He calls it "subtle and misleading" and says users should object.